U of T ranks second globally among universities for health sciences research: The Globe and Mail

The University of Toronto has been ranked the second most prolific health sciences research university in the world by scientific journal Nature, the Globe and Mail reports.

The paper noted that U of T’s rank in the newly added category to the Nature Annual Index Tables 2023 was second only to that of Harvard University among post-secondary institutions and ahead of other prestigious schools such as Johns Hopkins University, Yale University and the University of Oxford (the top-ranked institution in the category was the U.S. National Institutes of Health).

“This is truly exciting, breathtaking news for us,” Trevor Young, vice-provost, relations with health care institutions and the dean of U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, told the newspaper. He credited the collaboration between the 14 research hospitals in the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN), interdisciplinary Institutional Strategic Initiatives and industry partnerships for U of T’s strong performance.

The teamwork across multiple fields and networks has allowed U of T to explore the role of AI in medicine and make numerous advancements in health care, including identifying a new target for fighting Parkinson’s disease and extending the lives of patients with recurrent glioblastoma. “These are the kinds of discoveries that have a direct impact on people that might have diseases that are otherwise incurable,” Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president of research, innovation, and strategic initiatives, told the Globe. “It’s all sort of focused on addressing fundamental issues and improving human lives.”

Andy Smith, president and CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and a professor of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, told the newspaper that demand for health care is set to increase due to Canada’s population growing and aging population.

Against this backdrop, U of T Scarborough’s new medical academy will soon help train the next generation of health professionals and better serve residents in the eastern GTA – not unlike the impact the Mississauga Academy of Medicine had in the west when it was established at U of T Mississauga in 2011.

U of T was the only Canadian university to score among the top 25 institutions across the globe across all subjects tracked by the Nature Index: health sciences, physical sciences, chemistry, Earth and environmental sciences and biological sciences.

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